We at METI are frequently asked about the benefits of fasting as a strategy to lose weight. It is a subject that has been debated for many years and has produced literally thousands or more research papers on the subject. One has to rely on so-called ‘meta-analyses’ that study and comment on a large number of such research papers combined, to be able to formulate a clear answer.

I will try to do this in this week’s column. Some research groups report extremely disappointing long-term effects, producing the so-called ‘yo-yo effect’: Fasting caused consistent and dramatic weight loss during the fasting period, sometimes lasting several weeks, but then, after the fasting period, in a matter of a few weeks, the participants in these research projects return to their initial weight, getting the researchers to declare ‘in despair’ that ‘complete starvation is of no value in the long-term treatment of obese patients.’  

What was a common finding in these cases was that participants were prepared to go through the discomfort of going through the fasting period, but were not prepared to make any changes in their usual eating habits after the fasting period stopped. The same phenomenon was observed when participants in a research project on losing weight were asked to stick for various periods to a low-calorie diet.

Of course, they lost weight, but after the research period, they happily went back to their old eating habits and gained back their weight in no time! The overall observation was that the small percentage of participants in such studies, who after the fasting period continued to sustain their weight loss ‘all admitted that they had embraced a radical change in previous eating habits’. In other words, fasting only works long-term if it can act as a ‘jumpstart’ to a healthier diet.

The other observation that can be gleaned from these research studies is that fasting can indeed cause more weight loss than eating a calorie-restricted diet. However, it may lead to less loss of body fat, which should be the primary purpose of a weight reduction effort. As explained by the researchers: ‘During fasting, your body starts cannibalizing itself and burning more of your protein (coming from the muscles) for fuel. As they further explain: ‘Emperor penguins, elephant seals, and hibernating bears can survive by just burning fat without dipping in their muscles, but humans have a voracious big brain that needs at least a ‘trickle of blood sugar’ and that has to come from turning their muscle protein into sugar’.

To prove this point, it was found that when subjects on a fast were given water to drink, sweetened with honey, the protein losses were reduced. Others tried to compensate for the muscle loss by adding exercise to the fasting period: it made things worse! As Dr Greger, one of the pioneers of the WFPB diet commented: ‘At rest, while fasting, most of your heart and muscle energy needs can be covered with fat, but if you start exercising, some of the blood sugar meant for your brain starts getting snatched up by the exercising muscles, and your body may have to break down even more protein (coming from muscle)!’  

In conclusion, fasting for a week or two can interfere with the loss of body fat, rather than accelerate it. There are no ‘quick-fix’ solutions to the obesity problem. Those who want to lose weight have to become convinced that the only way they will lose weight and keep their weight down is to switch to a low-calorie diet, like the WFPB diet. How to achieve this, has been worked out by METI over the past several years.

First, people have to receive the proper information about adopting a low-calorie diet. This METI does with its weekly Health seminars. As we have mentioned before, it is our observation, that after the seminar, people walk away ‘two inches taller’ as they now understand and have become convinced they need to follow the WFPB diet and that ‘they can do it’!

The other important prop for people to keep to the diet is to ‘surround themselves with like-minded people’, who are prepared to join on the journey of health recovery. In a matter of a few weeks, they will have become used to the new, healthier meal plan: as we said in a previous column: From craving eggs and sausages, they will look forward to eating their giant fresh vegetable salad with tofu and baked beans! Bon Appetit!

As always, we invite you to visit METI’s Healthy Living Clinic at House No. 51 at Motootua (across from the Kokobanana Restaurant) and attend our weekly Health seminar and cooking demonstration that will help you to become acquainted with METI’s whole food plant-based diet. You can call us at 30550.